Thoughts on quizzes

[annabtg]

Melancholic again. Might have something to do with the fact that I ended up registering at FictionAlley, since it was the site I got the most positive opinions on, but now I have trouble deciding where to Archive my angsty Remus/Tonks oneshots - the Astronomy Tower, or The Dark Arts? I put up a thread about it and so far I've only got one reply, which did say that it should probably be the Astronomy Tower but was pretty 'it's up to you, wherever you think they fit best' about the whole thing.

I'll wait for more replies, and will perhaps contact my eMentor if I'm unable to reach a decision. In the meantime, if you're familiar with FictionAlley's categorization system and you think you might be able to help me, the fics are here: Over Spilt Coffee and Breaking. I'm not in a hurry to post them; I've already started by submitting the first chapter of The Journey Of The Phoenix.

(Yes, when I want help, I ask everyone and anyone. Can't limit myself to asking one person. I often end up with conflicted pieces of advice and it doesn't really make deciding much easier, but at least I know I've covered all bases.)

But I'm digressing. The reason why I started this post was a comment Paul posted in his journal as a reply to a comment of mine. It was about quizzes, and, because I couldn't express myself properly in a reply, I thought I'd do it in a post, where I could have more space and babble more without feeling guilty.


You have probably noticed I rarely ever post quiz results in my journal. I've only done it twice, for a grand total of three quizzes.

It's not because I don't like quizzes. Quite the opposite, I love taking quizzes, and everytime someone posts a link to a quiz in their journal, I rush over to take it.

Why don't I post my results, then?

Simple enough, I think people have better things to do than reading my quiz results. I don't think they'd be interested. Besides, you can't trust a quiz fully to give someone an insight into your mind. And sometimes, the quizzes are really random - you fill in your username and they give you a result, just like that. So there's no reason to see what results someone got other than curiosity.

This has probably something to do with my own attitude towards quiz results others post in their journals. I don't trust quizzes very much - I know that some are very well-researched, but even those I can't trust completely. (Besides, the results most well-researched quizzes give you require a dictionary for me to understand them. :p) So, I tend to just take a look at what results someone has got and take them with a grain of salt. Often, after a while, I forget what results the other had got altogether. It's not that I don't care; it's that, when I want to get to know someone, I prefer reading a post they've written, even if it speaks nonsense, than the blabbering of a quiz that may or may not be accurate.

When I go to my friends page and see that someone has posted quiz results, I get mixed feelings. I'm happy to know they did something fun, and I'm happy they gave me a link so that I can have some fun too. But sometimes I also get the feeling they expect me to comment, or remember, or draw conclusions from their quiz results, and I can't really do that. See the result, yes. Give it a moment of thought, yes. I might look at it for a minute and say, 'ha, I knew they'd get this result' or 'funny, I never thought they'd get this result'. But don't expect me to get philosophical.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that quiz results don't really mean anything to me. I mean, taking a Harry Potter quiz and ending up as Remus Lupin coincides with a running joke Cath and I have going on, so I'm posting it if only to see her reaction. But if it wasn't for that, it wouldn't mean anything. I've taken many HP quizzes, and I've ended up as Dumbledore, Hermione, Harry, and perhaps others. It doesn't change anything in the way I view myself, so what would you earn by seeing my results? Amusement, yes, but would you get to know me better because of it? Maybe you'd find out a little something about me, but I think that all this babbling I'm doing right now explains more than any quiz result could. Which is why I prefer to write this than post my results from the personality quiz Paul linked to, even if it came out as scarily accurate for me. It may result to a more boring, less 'colourful' journal, but in the end, that's how I like it.

(Random thought: wasn't it that 'prefer' goes with 'to' and not 'than'? Must revise my English notes from what most of you guys would call 7th grade.)

This doesn't mean that seeing quiz results posted annoys me, and it certainly doesn't mean that if I've friended you, you must stop posting quizzes. I respect the individuality of each journal, and nothing makes me happier than knowing that my friends are doing something they enjoy. If you like posting quiz results, go ahead and post. To paraphrase a well-known proverb, "I friend my friends as their journals are, and not as I'd like them to be" :D

And, Paul, don't think you've pressured me because I made that post. You just gave me something to think about, and I thought about it :)


See ya,
Anna.

Comments

[doranwen.livejournal.com]

I like those sort of quizzes for humor factor only, nothing more. Not trying to read philosophical too much, and usually I make a comment myself about what it gave me. Sometimes it's fun to try to figure out just how a certain quiz works . . .